Captive or Captivated?
by Jester ClownGirl
Summary: The Spire was the last place she wanted to be. From a distance, it had been an intimidating shadow growing steadily on the horizon; Garnet had been content with that. Being trapped inside was beyond uncomfortable. There was only one thing that made it bearable: a certain man whom she constantly bothered with her mere presence, but who couldn't do a thing about her.


The Tattered Spire was a dark and eerie place. From a distance, it was intimidating. The ocean around it was dark – almost black – and rough – and Avo only knew _what_ lurked in the depths of such dark water. The Spire itself was made of some strange, black stone, and around its base, jagged spikes reached upwards. In the centre of the main structure, an unusual blue light was emanating.

As the Galleon – on which were about two dozen people – drew closer to the Spire, the walls were extremely rough, and yellow lights shone here and there. The glowing blue in the centre was a tall opening in the wall, wide enough for two Galleons to squeeze though, if only just.

On the inside, it was dark. The looming walls were as rough as on the inside, and littered with little yellow lights. The only real source of light came from the opening of the Spire. In the centre, was a tower, also with a glowing blue opening. Yellow lights shone up it as well, and what appeared to be bridges of some kind connected it to the walls of the Spire.

And far above, a grey sky was out of reach, limited to a large patch by the walls.

On board the ship, around two dozen people were gathered together at the railings. They stared up at the walls looming above and around them, or leaned over to stare down into the darkness below.

What had – during the week-long journey from Westcliff to the Spire – been prideful boasting about what each passenger had achieved before accepting the offer to go to the Spire, and what they would do once they were there had turned into nervous whispers. Now that it was too late to change their minds, a majority of the passengers appeared to be having second thoughts about what they'd agreed to.

To Garnet – one of three female passengers on board the ship – it was all rather pathetic. Admittedly, she didn't want to be there either – but she'd been against going from the start. The _only_ reason she was even there was because she'd been pushed to the docks by some people who'd misunderstood her intentions in Westcliff, and then dragged on board the ship by another of the female passengers, who'd also misunderstood her reasons for being there. She'd not been able to get off the ship once she was on board.

She hung back, away from the rest of the passengers, while the crew scurried up and down the ship, preparing to dock. None of them were sparing the inside of the Spire even a glance – and she'd noticed that none of them had spared the outside a glance either – clearly, they'd seen it all multiple times before.

Looking around, she could see people – some wearing an identical red and black uniform with a strange, bulky collar around their necks – moving about on the docks. There were three other ships in the docks, all of which were unloading passengers. She could see that some of the passengers were being shoved forward, up the docks, while others were being pushed to the side, out of the way.

Just as Garnet moved towards the railings closer to the docks to get a better look at what was happening, the ship gave a sudden jolt, and she, along with everyone else, was knocked off her feet and sent across the deck. A crew-member who had not been prepared for the jolt was sent tumbling off the ship, and hit the water in front of the ship with a loud splash.

"Come on, you lot. Stop gawking and get off the ship!" An impatient voice yelled from the docks. Garnet growled under her breath as she got to her feet and brushed a lock of her rich brown hair that had fallen across her face out of the way. One of the men in the red and black uniform was standing on the docks, glaring up at the ship, while two others roughly slammed a gangplank against the side of the ship.

Garnet could hear the crew grumbling as they helped the dazed passengers to their feet and guided them to the gangplank. A few of the less dazed passengers stumbled down the gangplank. Two were roughly grabbed and shoved forward, while a third was shoved into the group that had been pushed to the side.

"Come on! What are you waiting for?" The impatient man yelled, roughly shoving the next passenger that descended down the gangplank towards the group that was currently being ignored. "Don't keep Lord Lucien waiting!" Garnet felt a hand on her elbow, gently pushing her forward, towards the gangplank, while a voice whispered "Good luck" into her ear.

Before she could turn to see which of the crew had been the one to say that, she was stumbling down the gangplank, closely followed by a man who she remembered had spent the week-long journey bragging about how he was going to rise in the ranks quickly, and be in charge of everyone else soon. She couldn't help but note that he currently looked like he was going to be horribly sick.

Then she was grabbed, and thrown roughly towards the group of people that were currently being ignored. She spun around to see who it was who'd been the one to do so, but whoever it was had already moved off.

Frowning, Garnet turned her attention to the others in the group she'd been shoved into. The other two women who'd been on the ship with her were standing nearby, along with about five other women, and four men. All of them looked confused and frightened.

"What's that weird throbbing?" One of the women whispered, huddling close to another woman, who appeared to be her friend. Garnet's frown deepened; there _was_ an unusual throbbing beneath her feet, and a weird noise in her ears. Both made her uncomfortable.

"I dunno. This whole place is weird, though…" The other woman said, clinging to her friend's arm. Garnet turned her attention away from them, and instead watched as the uniformed men began forcing the passengers they'd been separated from forward, and shoving them whenever necessary. She started after them, curious, but paused when a hand grabbed her arm.

"Hey!" A male voice hissed. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the man holding her arm. "Where are you going? I don't think we're meant to go with them; otherwise, they wouldn't have separated us from them!" He tried to drag her back, but she pulled her arm free of his grip.

"Call it curiosity. Maybe we aren't supposed to go that way; but I want to know what's going on all the same. _You_ can do as you wish, but I'm going that way." She snapped, indicating the way she'd been going.

Behind the man, a few others murmured to each other. She caught "I'm curious too…" and "I want to know too…" amongst the whispers, before about four others stepped forward. She turned away from the man, and started after the group that was walking away from them, followed by the four that had stepped forward.

After a moment, she heard more footsteps, and glanced back to see the rest of the group following, though they were clearly more reluctant. She said nothing about it, and turned her attention back forward.

"The world outside these marvellous walls is a corrupt, rotting husk." Garnet stopped at the loud voice coming from further forward. It was a commanding voice, and it made her even more uncomfortable. Everyone else behind her stopped too; they could hear the voice just as easily as she could.

"Reason is absent. Instead of order, there is only chaos." The voice said. Looking closer, Garnet could see a man standing on a set of stairs, above the passengers from the four ships. "Chaos does not punish evil, nor reward righteousness. Chaos only cuts innocent lives short – and we're to accept this as fate." Garnet tilted her head, eyes narrowed.

"I beg to differ. You stand in the centre of a great instrument of change. With it, I shall remake the world. And my creation will be unrecognisable in its perfection." It sounded – to Garnet anyway – like a well-rehearsed speech, without any real meaning behind its words. But the passengers seemed to be drawn in by the words.

"But my will alone is not sufficient for such a monumental task. It is only through your toil, through your labours, through you conviction, that Albion will be transformed." Garnet glanced at the people behind her; they seemed to be drawn in by the speech, just as the passengers appeared to be.

"Do not fear the sound you hear. The throbbing you feel beneath your feet. These sensations will soon be as familiar as your own heartbeat. And so long as your heart continues to beat, all that I require from you is obedience." Garnet felt the throbbing beneath her feet intensify and the sound get louder as the man finished his speech, but before she could think anything of it, the man spoke again.

"Now…" The man's voice seemed to echo, "Sleep."

Everything went white, and then abruptly went dark.

* * *

R&R, please!


End file.
